Richard Chace Tolman (4.03.1881-5.09.1948) was an American physicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1923). He was born in West Newton. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1903). In 1912-16 he worked at the University of California, in 1916—18 he was professor at the University of Illinois, and from 1922 at the California Institute of Technology.
His research was in the fields of statistical mechanics, relativistic thermodynamics, relativity, quantum theory, cosmology and electric discharges in gases. In 1916, together with T. Stewart, he detected the inertia of electrons in metals (the Tolman—Stewart effect).
He was the first to apply (1928) general relativity to thermodynamics. He developed the relativistic theory of thermodynamic equilibrium and used some consequences of this theory in cosmological problems.
He is one of the founders of relativistic thermodynamics.